When Tom Ricketts and his family purchased the Chicago Cubs, they knew that the franchise hadn’t won a World Series in 12,462 years. But it’s what he found out after the fact that has him bummed and the people of the glorious Windy City shaking their ham fists in rage – he can’t afford to keep Wrigley Field in good shape. The classic, beautiful and vintage stadium costs more than $10 million a year to keep from falling down, and Ricketts is finding that price a little unrealistic, so he’s doing what any billionaire sports franchise owner would do – demanding taxpayer money.

Here’s the problem – Chicago and Illinois are broke. Ricketts wants $300 million in future tax revenue and he’ll need one giant magical top hat to bull his cash bunny from. His alternative? Destroy Wrigley and build a new stadium.

Tear down that dump, Steve Chapman of Reason.com…

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As it turns out, Wrigley Field isn’t much of a football facility.

For those that missed it, the historic ballpark is actually hosting a college football game tomorrow against Northwestern and Illinois. But since the field doesn’t seem to be big enough for a regulation field, a ruling was handed down from the Big Ten dictating that…well, losers walk.

After seeing the tight configuration required to fit a football field in the home of the Chicago Cubs, James E. Delany, the commissioner of the Big Ten, announced that the teams would run all of their offensive plays in one direction, toward the western end zone. Every time the ball changes hands, the players will be turned around so the action heads west — toward the third-base dugout and away from the right-field wall.

The move followed a number of news reports that questioned whether the tight east-west configuration of the football field at Wrigley might cause an injury. For instance, a corner of the eastern end zone is less than two feet from the wall in the right-field corner, which has been padded for the game. The back of the center of the eastern end zone is six inches from the right-field wall, and the uprights are attached right to the wall. (The other goal post stands in front of the third-base dugout.)

–NYT.

Switching after every change of possession? That seems a little ridiculous. Wouldn’t it have been easier to just take 5 yards out of the middle of the field. Sure, that leaves you with a 95-yard field, but then at least you’d avoid the situation of players picking their teeth out of the ivy.

Of course, the internet has been loving this development.

Shane Victorino was doused with a fan’s beer last night as the Phillies were taking care of the Cubs last night. As Victorino approached the warning track to handle a fly ball in the fifth inning, a cup that was thrown full of golden liquid hit Victorino in the face. He caught the ball, but declined to talk about the incident after the game.

“That shouldn’t happen,” Piniella said. “It’s not good sportsmanship. … We apologize to Victorino and the Phillies for that.” via, via.

Oh, and it was also the Phillies debut for Pedro Martinez, a dude who seems like such a weird fit for Philly. He gave up three runs through five innings and then probably ate a sandwich or something. As for the fans near that outfield wall, stadium security threw out the whole row. And hopefully the bastard that threw that beer did some push-ups for alcohol abuse. Oh, and was punished for interfering with play. I guess that’s kinda reprehensible, too. Sort of. Video after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

In a bizarre story that's not getting much run, THE STATE OF ILLINOIS [Guest Editor's Note: what the fuck?] is expected to make a bid to buy Wrigley Field sometime next week. The Sports Economist is pretty much in heat over this, with sexy talk like "landmark status" and "sales tax growth" being thrown around.

Perhaps the "landmark" of value to Illinois is not just the building itself, but the name of the stadium, something that may be up for sale. Wrigley Field is synonymous with Chicago and Illinois and calling it Sears Stadium or whatnot will obscure that to some extent.

Why shouldn't they call it Sears Stadium? Nearly every other arena in this country has some corporate name du jour attached to it. Why should those assholes get it any better? They need to call the next building built with public money Taxpayer Stadium, because that's who's actually paying for the damn thing.

Basically the state wants Wrigley's landmark restrictions to be lifted, because having certain elements of the stadium declared "off limits" any fundamental improvements is certain to make any renovation more cumbersome and more expensive. We can't have all the drunks getting lost on the concourse while the Cubbies are in the midst of a pennant race. But then what about the last three months of the season?

– Monday Morning Punter

[The Sports Economist via SunTimes.com]